Lancashire Local – Lancaster District Tuesday 22nd July 2008 at 6.30 pm, at the Town Hall, Lancaster (Banqueting Room). Agenda Part 1 (Open to Press and Public) No. Item 1. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda. 2. Minutes of the Meeting held on the 17th June 2008 (Copy enclosed) Discharge of delegated powers 3. Local Safety Scheme Ref No 1.210 (Report attached) B5273 Oxcliffe Road, Morecambe, Lancaster City 4. Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund (Report attached) Approval of Projects to Support Climate Change in Lancashire 5. Lancashire Local Grant Applications (Report attached) Other issues for consideration 6. Update Report on Local Grants Spend 2007/08 and (Report attached) 2008/09 7. Primary Capital Programme (Report attached) 8. Lancashire County Developments Ltd (Report attached) 9. Traffic Issues at Skerton Bridge, Lancaster (Report attached) 10. Proposed Hest Bank to Morecambe Cycle Route: (Report attached) Trial Opening of Gate onto Rushley Drive, Hest Bank onto the Canal 11. Permanent Traffic Regulation Orders (Report attached) 12. Forward Business Plan 2008/09 (Report attached) 13. Use of the Urgent Business Procedure (Report attached) - 2 - 14. Urgent Business An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Secretary should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading 15. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Tuesday 2nd September 2008 at 6.30 pm at the Rainbow Centre, Morecambe. I M Fisher County Secretary and Solicitor County Hall Preston Lancashire Local – Lancaster District Meeting held at 1.30 pm on Tuesday 17th June, 2008, at The Midland Hotel, Morecambe Minutes Present:- County Councillor Liz Scott (Chair) Lancashire County Council County Councillor Susie Charles County Councillor C B Coates County Councillor Sarah Fishwick County Councillor A P Jones County Councillor Niki Penney County Councillor A Thornton County Councillor Jean Yates Lancaster City Council Councillor Eileen Blamire Councillor A Johnson Councillor Andrew Kay Councillor David Kerr Councillor Stuart Landhorn Councillor Bob Roe Councillor R Sherlock Councillor Malcolm Thomas Councillor John Whitelegg Apologies were presented on behalf of County Councillors Peter Elliott and Janice Hanson. The following Parish Councils were represented:- Carnforth Town Council Silverdale Parish Council Appointment of Chair 1. Resolved:- That County Councillor Liz Scott be appointed Chair of Lancashire Local – Lancaster District for the municipal Year 2008/09. 1 Appointment of Deputy Chair 2. Resolved:- That Councillor Malcolm Thomas be appointed Deputy Chair of Lancashire Local – Lancaster District for the Municipal Year 2008/09. Membership and Constitution 3. Resolved:- That the Membership and Constitution of Lancashire Local – Lancaster District be noted. Public Participation The Chair explained that whilst Lancashire Local meetings were not public meetings, but business meetings to jointly deal with the business of the County Council in a public setting, it was the practice to facilitate public involvement before the transaction of formal business by the Members of the Lancashire Local by inviting comments/question on matters included on the agenda. A thirty minute period was set aside for this, with no person being allowed to speak for more than three minutes. The Chair then invited contributions from the floor. The following indicated their wish to speak on Item No 6 (Emesgate Lane Area, Silverdale – Proposed 20 mph Zone):- Heather Bakewell John Holland Peter Roberts Graham Pollard Dorothy Kitson Roger Hissey Paul Linton Carnforth Parish Councillor Pat Woofe indicated her wish to speak in relation to Item No 7 (Highways Services Budget 2008/09) The speakers on the issue of Emesgate Lane, Silverdale all objected to the proposal to introduce the 20mph Zone in the Emesgate Lane Area of the village. It was felt inappropriate for the village, would increase congestion, be bad for local businesses and that the proposed road humps would cause difficulty for agricultural vehicles and for those touring the area (which was an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in motor homes and towing caravans. Residents felt that consultation had been poor and not wide enough and were critical of a lack of representatives from the County Council at the Village Meeting held to discuss the proposal. It was stated that 95% of the Village population opposed the scheme. Representatives of Silverdale Parish Council confirmed that the Council firmly opposed the proposal. 2 It was suggested that the County Council consider erecting 20 mph signs at each end of the Village. Councillor Pat Woofe (Carnforth Parish Council) spoke and requested that consideration be given to the provision of information/direction signs to Carnforth Railway Station Visitor Centre. The Carnforth Railway Trust had been seeking to have brown information signs erected for a number of years, but had been unsuccessful. It was hoped that the Lancashire Local might help with this. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests County Councillor Sarah Fishwick declared a personal interest in Item No 6 (Emesgate Lane Area, Silverdale – Proposed 20mph Zone) as a resident of Emesgate Lane. County Councillor Nikki Penney declared a personal interest in Item No 13 (Lancashire County Developments Ltd) as the Chair of LCDL. County Councillor Chris Coates declared a personal interest in Item No 10 (Young People not in Education, Employment or Training) as he was involved with project working with NEET. County Councillor Tony Jones declared a personal interest in Item No 8 (Local Safety Schemes Programme 2008/09) in relation to Scheme 1.211 A683 from Hornby to Greta Bridge) as a resident of Hornby. Councillor David Kerr declared a personal interest in Item 9 (Lancashire Local Grant Applications as the City Council Cabinet member with responsibility for awarding grants. Minutes of the Meeting held on 6th May 2008 4. Resolved:- That with the inclusion of the apologies submitted for the meeting by Councillors Malcolm Thomas and John Whitelegg and the correction to the names of persons participating in the Public Participation segment of the meeting, the Minutes of the meeting of Lancashire Local – Lancaster District held on 6th May 2008 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. Emesgate Lane Area, Silverdale – Proposed 20 mph Zone A report was presented on a proposal to establish a 20 mph zone in the Emesgate area of Silverdale in order to educe vehicle speeds and, as a Local Safety Scheme, to reduce the potential for injury accidents. Details of the Scheme were attached as Appendix A to the report. The report followed public consultation which had resulted in a number of objections and details of these, together with the response of the Executive Director, Environment were presented in Appendix B to the report. This was deemed to be a Key Decision and had been included in the County Council’s Forward Plan. It was moved and seconded that, having considered the proposal to establish a 20 mph zone in the Emesgate Area of Silverdale as described in Appendix A to the report, together with the objections received to it, the comments on 3 the objections prepared by the County Council’s Executive Director of Environment and the representations made at the meeting by the Parish Council and local residents, the proposal not be approved and no further action taken in relation to its implementation. On being put to the vote the Motion was carried, one Member abstaining and it was:- 5. Resolved:- That, having considered the proposal to establish a 20 mph zone in the Emesgate Area of Silverdale as described in Appendix A to the report, together with the objections received to it, the comments on the objections prepared by the County Council’s Executive Director of Environment and the representations made at the meeting by the Parish Council and local residents, the proposal not be approved and no further action taken in relation to its implementation. Highways Services Budget 2008/09 It was reported that under delegated powers, the Lancashire Local had discretion in allocating expenditure under two budget heads, namely the Standard Allocation Budget to be spent on areas of work within the highway which under normal criteria would of be of insufficient priority to attract funding, and the Additional Highway Budget which was intended for repairs or other maintenance to carriageways and footways. For 2008/09 the allocations for the Lancaster District were £27,773 and £35,861 respectively. The Lancashire Local was asked to consider proposals which fell under each of the budget heads and identified in Appendix A to the report (a revised Appendix A was circulated at the meeting and a copy is set out in the Minute Book). It was noted that the “bids” listed in the Appendix did not take up the entire allocations. In addition to the schemes listed in Appendix A the following suggestions were put forward:- Signage for Carnforth Railway Station Visitor Centre (if numbers of visitors criteria met). A scheme to reduce the risk of collisions on Skerton Bridge, Lancaster where traffic merges (it was noted that signage and traffic merge markings had been improved and it was agreed that a report on this specific issue would be brought to the next meeting). Provision of Fair Trade District signs. Extension of white line markings at the bridge in Wray to prevent vehicles parking and reduce congestion. Junction safety in Tatham 4 Gully cleaning on rural roads where blockages were caused by roadside verges collapsing into the gullies.